Source: Onuaonline.com
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will stop the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from rigging the 2024 elections.
He contends that the attempts by leading members of the NPP to use “every means” possible to annex victory in the December polls will not wash.
Murtala Mohammed has condemned statements by the Abetifi MP, Bryan Acheampong, who maintains the NPP will use all necessary strategies to win the presidential election.
Speaking at a campaign rally in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri constituency, the Food and Agric Minister affirmed that the NPP “would do whatever it takes to win the elections” because it is “a political party that has pastors, imams, and traditionalists.”
“Burn the sea if you don’t understand, we’ll win and continue with our good works,” Mr. Acheampong noted.
According to him, the NPP is an election-winning machine, one that makes it practically impossible for the National Democratic Congress to win this year’s election.
But the NDC will not have any of that, saying this could be strong grounds for trouble in the upcoming polls.
Murtala Mohammed said, “This is not the first time such reckless, dangerous and irresponsible statements are made by Bryan Acheampong and leading members of the NPP. Throughout the tour that Dr. Bawumia is engaged in, they are not talking about issues; they either using religion, ethnicity and many other divisive languages for the purposes of winning an election.”
“Insha Allah, we will also do everything possible to prevent the NPP from rigging this election,” Murtala Mohammed said.
Silence of stakeholders
The Tamale Central MP says he is worried about the silence of religious leaders and major stakeholders who seem not to be interested in condemning the pronouncements by figures of the NPP.
“The dead silence of the religious leaders in this country, leaders of civil society organisations and chiefs is legendary. That such inflammatory words are used; such divisive and dangerous statements are made by leading members of the NPP on political party platforms and none of them [has condemned them].”
“They are all in a complete state of incommunicado. If this reckless statement was made by any leading member of the NDC, we would have heard them on the rooftop, condemning President Mahama and condemning everybody. The NDC will not remain silence in this matter,” he further stated.
Experts say the polarised nature of the political space and the stakes involved in the December polls make it vulnerable for electoral instability.
Many have warned against the use of indecent language to prevent incidents of violence.
The West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism has also urged political parties to abstain from intemperate language.
Ghana’s democratic gains will be tested once again in the December polls. Stakeholders agree there is a crucial need for clear guidelines to ensure credible elections and peace.
Source: www.onuaonline.com
